Thursday, May 15, 2008

Welcome to Shedworking's celebration of National Work From Home Day (which is today). I'll be updating this post throughout the day, there'll be Twittering in the right hand column opposite, and please do leave a comment to say hi and perhaps a little bit about where you're working and what you're doing today.

8.42: Children off to school, clear up breakfast things and off to the shed with a mug of coffee and the papers.

8.43: Installed in the recently tidied-up shed and on goes the computer. Half a dozen overnight emails including a great find by Shedworking's Literary Editor Sarah Salway which I'll share with you tomorrow, hellos from the two main US homeworking bloggers, and even something from the 'United States Department Of The Treasury' telling me that their records indicate that I am qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund...

8.45: Start to check new items on the RSS feed - 81 since I last had a look.

8.55: Down to work. I moderate the blogs/forums for The Independent newspaper (as a schoolboy it was always my ambition to work for it) so first of all a check to make sure everybody is playing nicely then onto the final proofs for the quarterly members' magazine I edit for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC). These need some final fiddling with before I send them off to NACC HQ (just down the road in St Albans) for final approval.

9.18: Final fiddling over and sent for final approval before it all goes to the printer tomorrow. Next piece of work is a slight rewrite for a piece on China for Travel & Leisure magazine.

9.49: Nipping out to pay in some cheques at the bank and get a passport application for the new baby. Back by 11am.

11.17: The cricket is a bit rainy but the press releases from the Work Wise UK folk are flooding in. This just in, a release trying to allay the fears of small businesses over Gordon Brown’s proposal to force them to introduce flexible working legislation.

11.39: As it's a Thursday I realise that many regular readers will be wanting a Thursday Outhouse. Here's a nice one from the very browseable The Rustic Way.

11.47: Coffee break. I am playing Scrabulous with novelist, journalist and all-round literary good egg Celia Brayfield. JARS for 27.

1.42: The delights of homeworking: the inexplicable loss of my internet connection for an hour was more than a minor irritation but it just as inexplicably flipped back on at 1pm so everything is peachy again. Just spent half an hour going over final amendments to the NACC magazine with the NACC people and it's almost ready to go (just waiting on the medical editor's final comments). Time for lunch. New Zealand are 9 for 1. Good early breakthrough by Anderson.

2.21: England doing very nicely now, NZ are three down for 40. Quick flick through the RSS reader - more nice stuff including something from Shedblog: I'll be adding more details about National Shed Week tomorrow. My friend Mary de Sousa emails me some delightful shed stories.

2.32: I write regularly for the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation's magazine Rapport. The commissioning editor, the lovely Jeanette Boyd, has just been in touch with two more commissions for the next issue, one of which will look at social networking online which is of course right up my cul-de-sac. Nice people, I like working with them.

3.36: I'm going to pinch an excellent post from today's Kits and Mortar about garden offices at the Grand Designs Live show. Well worth a peek.

4.15: A quick but efficient call with NACC's hardworking medical editor who has some last minute points to discuss. Everything is ironed out and it's nearly ready to be put to bed.

5.18: Off to pick up one of my sons from a play date, then nip back home to get ready to go into sunny London for the book launch of Emma Jones' Spare Room Start Up at One Alfred Place. If I'm not too dazed and confused by the time I get home this evening, I shall add a few details about it here...

12.39: Back home now after the launch which was a hoot including a very jolly chat with fellow shedworker and journalist Nikki Spencer. Thanks to everyone who's been following me today, who's left a comment and who's emailed me off-site. Business as normal from tomorrow.

7 comments:

So far today I've wasted (?) lots of time reading blogs, but I justify it with not feeling real great today.

-walked dog up to the bank, then got some certificates photocopied.

-home again, checking email (and more blogs)

-now downstairs to the office to continue rearranging the file cabinet, the paper piles, the desk, and the shelves. It really needs to get done before any new work can be started.

I think those are the drawbacks of working from home. Easily distracted, and no outside pressure to keep the space tidy. But I haven't driven anywhere today, I didn't have to pack a lunch, and I'm in my rattiest old clothes, so I'm happy!